State Fines Six Nursing Homes

The state Department of Public Health (DPH) has fined six nursing homes for violations that resulted in injuries to residents.

Cheshire Regional Rehabilitation Center was fined $3,000 after a resident, who required staff assistance to eat was left alone and choked on a roll. On the morning of Oct. 10, 2017, the resident, who had functional quadriplegia and difficulty swallowing, was found next to a dining room table that had a plate of rolls on it and was holding a roll. A licensed practical nurse took the roll away from the resident and left the room, but a surveyor subsequently saw the resident wheeze and cough out a piece of the roll, according to DPH.

Investigators found the facility failed to keep the residential environment free from accident hazards. Also, resident checks that should have been performed every 15 minutes weren’t completed for a four-hour span, according to the citation.

Officials at the facility did not return a call seeking comment.

Whitney Rehabilitation Care Center in Hamden was fined $1,950 after a resident fell from a bed onto the floor and broke an arm. The resident, who is legally blind and required staff assistance for mobility, rolled off the bed while a certified nursing assistant (CNA) repositioned the resident to fix bed linens on Jan. 23, 2017, according to DPH.

The CNA had observed the resident to be forgetful and confused that day and should have reported the behavior to supervisors and requested help turning the resident in bed, according to the citation.

The CNA was suspended, and the entire staff was re-educated in the importance of reporting changes in resident condition or behavior, said administrator Al Mislow. The CNA involved has worked at the facility for more than 20 years, is well liked and requested by residents, and has a strong reputation, he added.

Ludlowe Center for Health & Rehabilitation in Fairfield was fined $1,530 after a resident suffered leg fractures while being moved from a shower. The resident, who required the help of two staff for all transfers, became weak when exiting a shower on May 4, 2017, and a nurse aide lowered the resident to the floor without help, according to DPH.

The resident had tibia and fibula fractures and was taken to a hospital. The nurse aide said she hit a call button for help when the resident felt weak, but no one came to assist, according to the citation.

“While we disagree with the state’s findings, privacy laws prevent us from commenting on the care provided to specific residents and this isolated incident,” said spokesman Tim Brown.

“This citation is not indicative of the day-to-day care and operations of our center. As a result of this incident, we have performed an internal review of our processes and will continue to strive to improve the care and service we provide to all our residents whom we care for deeply,” Brown said.

Wolcott Hall Nursing Center in Torrington was fined $1,530 after a nurse aide was abusive to a resident. Another aide, who was being trained by the nurse aide, saw the nurse aide “aggressively” put a towel around the resident’s mouth on June 7 and June 8, 2017, after the resident began spitting, according to DPH.

The aide-in-training also saw the nurse aide on June 7 slap the resident’s hand after the resident pinched the nurse aide, according to the citation. An investigation substantiated the aide-in-training’s allegations of abuse and the nurse aide was terminated.

Officials at the facility did not return a call seeking comment.

Apple Rehab Laurel Woods in East Haven was fined $1,530 after a resident fell when being transferred by a family member into a car during a leave of absence from the facility. The resident, who has cervical spinal stenosis and osteoarthritis, fell on Sept. 23, 2017, and was admitted to a hospital with a right ankle fracture before returning to the facility, according to DPH.

A physical therapist told investigators the resident’s family had not been trained in how to properly help the resident get into a car, according to the citation.

Officials at the facility did not return a call seeking comment.

Cobalt Lodge Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in East Hampton was fined $540 after a resident went six days without receiving a blood thinner medication.

The resident complained of pain when standing on June 30, 2017, and it was discovered Coumadin hadn’t been administered from June 24 to June 29 and ordered blood work had not been performed—despite physician’s orders for both, according to DPH. Following the incident, a new policy was instated to ensure all scheduled labs are obtained.

Unfortunately nursing homes are understaffed
CNA’s are grossly underpaid for the hard work caring for difficult patients
The care is generally poor nurses have little or no supervision from management. The quality of nurses is not as good as they should be.
The owners only care to make money more frequent unexpected inspections need to be done the standards should be much higher.
Taxpayers pay a lot of money to these coorperations; the bottom line for them is profit
There needs to be more accountable of these corporations to the families that trust these places to take care of their lives ones.
The food is horrendous the beds and furniture are old the surroundings depressing
it is a shame that older people are not more valued.

I worked at a nursing home as a Nurses aide during my summers while in nursing school. It was physically impossible to feed ,change and assist patients to the bathroom when you were assigned 8 patients in a 8 hour shift. Things have not changed in 40 years. There needs to be better patient Aide ratio one to 4 would be reasonable, but that will not happen, The CNA’s that are working in Nursing homes now are
grossly underpaid and overworked. Anyone that can find a better paying job in another industry takes it.

Four nurses, all of them affiliated with a Derby pain clinic, were responsible for nearly all of the state’s 2014 Medicare spending on the powerful opioid painkiller Subsys, which is at the center of a kickback probe.